Through the Video Games
by Defender of Time
Summary: When 13 teenagers are sucked into the world of video games, it's all they can do to make it to the end of each round and try to earn back their freedom. Will they survive? Read to find out! Rated T for violence and implied language.
1. Chapter I: Entering the Screen

**Hello peoples! D.o.T. here, and I'd like to present my very first fanfiction EVER! A lot of thought and collaboration went into this, and I hope you enjoy it! So, without further ado, _Time/Space Productions_ presents: Through the Video Games!**

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><p>General P.O.V.<p>

It was July 21st, the sun was beating down in Everett, Washington, and LJ Di'Andreas was typing away on his computer. He had found a brand-spankin'-new MMOG. It allowed you to play almost any kind of game from any sort of console or website, invite friends and, suspiciously, it had records of almost every single person on the planet, whether they had played the game or not.

LJ had just finished signing up when he realized that he could invite other people.

"Psh! That is awesome! I wonder who I should include?" He thought for a moment, and then typed out the names of some of the people he knew. He was surprised that the system already had his friends emails, birthdates, address, and the rest of the whole nine yards. Without thinking, he selected the names of his entire high school class and sent all of them emails about the game. He was giddy with excitement, that the moment he finished sending out emails, he pressed "Start" and downloaded the game.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a swirling, black portal crackling with energy appeared on his computer screen, and started to forcefully suck things in. When it sucked up the keyboard, LJ grabbed the cord and tried to pull it out, but the portal seemed to grab his arm and pull him in. He was sent tumbling down a long dark tunnel, and the last thing he remembered before he hit the bottom was the light from the portal speeding away.

LJ's P.O.V.

When I came to, I was in a pitch-black room surrounded by the people I had invited. Oddly, I could see them as if they were standing in sunlight. There was Carson and Keeten Carnale, David Q-Zelle, Chelsey Lowis, David Filipino, Justin Darnpac, Mark Banderthrow, Esther Gonzoolas, Cameron Quail, Cassandra "Cassie" McMartyr, Olena Macintosh, and Alex Zanderick.

"Hey, looks like Game Freak's finally awake!" Keeten said.

"Shut up Keeten." I replied.

I immediately realized that everyone else was glaring at me. "What'd I do?" I asked, knowing full well what I had done.

"You sent us those emails," Cassie snapped, "and now we're all stuck here!"

"Now now, you could've just deleted that email." I said as coolly as possible, knowing that I was probably about to get pummeled. "Knowing how you avoid me so diligently, I didn't really expect you to open it."

"Well, I did, and so did everyone else!"

"And you know who we think should pay for it?" David Q. asked.

"Me, right?" I winced.

"Exactly." He swung a fist at me, but stopped when a voice boomed around us.

"Now now, let's not defeat each other before the fun begins!" The voice said. The voice was loud, yet geeky, and it sounded like whomever was talking had one too many cups of coffee. "I'm so excited that I have new players! It's only been three hours, and you're the first thirteen people to play! So, shall we get started?"

"How about...No!" Alex shouted out.

"Oh, don't be like that! This'll be fun!" The voice boomed. Suddenly, the floor disappeared and everyone was once again sent tumbling through darkness.

Cameron's P.O.V.

I awoke sprawled in a dumpster in the back of an alley with a splitting headache. When I grasped the sides of the dumpster to pull myself out, I noticed that I was wearing gloves. Not only that but a full body costume! I found a piece of mirror next to the dumpster and when I looked in, I saw that I was dressed as Spider-man! I shook my head in disbelief, but when I tried to set the mirror down, it wouldn't come off my hand. Then, it suddenly dawned on me. I shook off the mirror and, as a test, I placed both hands on the wall in front of me and hoisted myself up onto the wall.

"This is awesome!" I said to myself as I scaled the wall. When I reached the top, I quickly pressed my middle and ring fingers down on my palm, and a thin white web shot out of my wrist with a "_Spurt!_" The feeling was weird. It felt as if someone was quickly pulling a silky-smooth string out of my arm. In fact, it almost tickled.

I was practising my aim, trying to hit the "C" on a Coca-Cola billboard, when something red shot by me at high speeds. I watched it as it sped down the street and crashed into a building. It seemed to be stuck.

"Well, since I'm Spider-man," I said aloud, "it's my duty to help those in need!" I snagged a string of web onto the corner of a building and leapt off into space. However, I misjudged the length of the web, and instead of swinging back up, I hit the ground and rolled.

I wasn't hurt, but it was then that I noticed something odd about the city I was in. There wasn't a single person around. Sure, there were parked cars on the streets and businesses that said "Open", but there wasn't a living soul in sight!

Suddenly, a muffled yell came from the spot where the flying object had crashed. It sounded like "Get me out!" but I couldn't tell for sure. I noticed that there was a pair of metallic legs flailing about in the hole in the building. From where I stood, I shot a web at the legs and… missed. I shot again, and missed again. It took me another five tries, but I finally managed to snag a web on the right foot of the legs. With all my strength, I pulled the legs out of the building, and they, with the rest of the body, came flying out of the hole. The body landed in a heap a few feet in front of me, and I could see that it was none other than Iron Man! "Iron Man?!" I shouted, not believing that I was standing in front one of the greatest Avengers of all time.

"Spider-man?!" He shouted, also in disbelief. He stood up and shook himself off. "I'm sorry, but I think you've got the wrong super-guy." I didn't understand what he meant until he flipped up his mask. It was LJ in the armor!

"LJ?!" I shouted. "What the heck are you doing in the Iron Man armor?" He looked confused, but seemed to realize something.

"Hold on, I know that voice…" He said thoughtfully. "...Cameron? Is that you?"

"Bingo, chrome face." I said. "It's nice to see a familiar face around here!" I said.

"Same. have you seen any of the others?" LJ asked.

"No, I haven't. I just woke up a little while ago. But hey! Check this out!" I charged at a building and proceeded to literally run up the side of it. When I reached the top, I jumped, flipped, and landed on the roof. "Ta-daaaa!" I shouted down to LJ. I waited, but there was no response. I looked down and saw that he was gone! I looked up and down the streets, and nearly fell off the building when he crashed down on an A.C. unit behind me.

"Two can play at the game." He said, holding up two fingers. He groaned as he stood up. "So, I suppose we should…um…look for the others?" He said suggested.

"Yeah, let's find everyone else and get out of here." I snagged a string of web on a cell tower and once again leapt off the building. This time, however, I shot another web before I hit the ground and yanked myself into the air again. I repeated the process and made my way down the streets. I looked back to see LJ flying along behind me. As we swung and flew down the streets, I knew that this was only the start of something big.


	2. Chapter II: Rise of the Villains, Part I

**Hello again everyone! I've so excited to already be posting chapter two! I've got two new characters here to introduce, be prepared for unexpectedness!**

Cameron's P.O.V.

As I swung through the city with LJ following behind me, I couldn't help but wonder what he had gotten us into. Sure, it was beyond awesome being Spider-man, but where were we?

"Hey! Spidy!" LJ yelled at me, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Huh? What?" I turned to look at him, but doing so caused me to lose focus on my web-shooting, and my next shot sailed over the building I was aiming for. This time however, I landed on my feet with absolutely no pain, even though I fell from more than 50 feet. "LJ! You idiot!" I snapped at him. "I could've been killed!"

"Nevermind that," He said excitedly, while hovering, "Look!" He pointed down a street to our left where it seemed the city petered out and the road disappeared into a forest. "Let's head that way. Maybe it's a way out of here." He shot off down the street, and I hoisted myself into the air again. However, before he reached the end of the city, LJ suddenly collided hard with something invisible and plummeted to the ground. I dropped down again and ran up to him.

"Dude, are you okay?" I helped him up and he shook his head.

"I don't even know what I hit. No use crying over spilled milk though. Let's keep going." He walked forward and banged into the invisible object again. "What the heck?!" He yelled. He ran right and left, dragging his hand on whatever it was that was invisible. Then, he shot up into the air, and at about 2,000 feet up, he came to an abrupt halt and fell about halfway back down before righting himself. He came back down and landed next to me.

"I don't know what's going on, but I think we're trapped in a giant invisible box. Almost like a… like a video game. Hmmm..." He proceeded to blast the invisible wall with his repulsor rays and missiles, and when that didn't work, he resorted to head-butting the wall repeatedly.

I took off my mask in despair, realizing that we were trapped, and it was then that I heard someone yell something. I looked at LJ, but he was too preoccupied with trying to head-butt the wall down to say anything intelligent. Then I heard it again.

"Cameron!" I turned around to see Cassie running our direction. She looked normal but, as she got closer, I could see that she was wearing a lab coat and… Her right arm was missing? When she got to us, I could see that she was on the verge of tears.

"Oh my gosh! I thought I was going to die! Where are we?! What are we going to do?!" I held my hands up and she stopped talking.

"We don't know what's going on, but we're trying to figure out what to do next." I looked back at the wall where LJ was head-butting it. "Or at least _I_ am."

"What is Iron Man doing?" Cassie asked.

"Believe it or not, but that's LJ."

"Huh. Go figure." At that point LJ seemed to give up and walked over to join us. He flipped his mask up before speaking.

"Well, I tried my best, but there is no way we're getting through that." He said, thumbing the invisible wall. He looked at Cassie and studied her new attire. "So, what happened to your arm?" He asked nonchalantly. Cassie looked stricken, but replied anyways.

"It was gone when I woke up. I landed in the middle of a garden, so my fall wasn't that bad."

"Lucky you," I said, "I landed in a dumpster."

"I landed on a car." LJ added. Suddenly, something seemed to come together in his head. "Hey! I know who you are Cassie! You're Curt Connors."

"So? That doesn't fix my arm." She replied, annoyed.

"Actually, it does." He reached around her and pulled a small test tube filled with a green liquid out of her lab coat. "This will fix your arm... And more." He said, muttering the last part. Cassie took the tube and looked it over, unsure. "Are you absolutely sure?" She asked.

"Am I Iron Man?" He replied with a grin.

"Not really." She said.

"What? Oh come on, just drink it. It probably tastes like kiwi." Cassie hesitated for a moment, but then pulled out the stopper and drank the liquid in a single gulp. She stared at her arm for a few moments, and then glared at LJ.

"Well, that was complet-AAAAAAAHHHH!" She collapsed as a ball of flesh sprouted out of the socket and formed into a new right arm.

"See? Good as new." LJ said, completely oblivious to the fact that Cassie was in a great deal of pain. She stood up and socked him in the face, sending him flying backwards. He nearly fell over again as he stood up. What appeared to be a health bar formed above his head and lowered slightly. He stared at Cassie in disbelief and rubbed his jaw. "How did you do that?" He groaned. However, Cassie didn't hear him. She was too busy gaping at her right arm, which was _turning green_.

Cassie's P.O.V.

I couldn't believe it. I could _not_ _believe_ that I let myself trust that idiot for even a moment. Sure, my right arm was back, and stronger than ever, but it was _green_! Suddenly, something that felt like an electric shock coursed through my body, causing me to collapse on the ground again. I could feel my body changing, and the world around me swirled into haze right before I blacked out.

When I came to, something about me had changed. When I stood up, I felt much taller. That was probably because I was. I whipped around and stared into a window and saw my reflection. I was about eight feet tall, and not only that, I was ripped like a muscle-bound meathead, I had a snout longer than a $5 Foot-Long, a huge tail, and I was green from head to toe. I was a big, ugly, _mutant lizard_! I saw LJ edging away in the glass, so I whipped around and grabbed him by the throat. Unfortunately, the armor he was wearing prevented me from choking him.

"Look what you've done to me!" I dropped him when I heard my voice. It sounded terrible, like a brick going through a meat grinder. "You idiot!" I yelled, kicking LJ like a soccer ball. He went flying into the invisible wall and dropped to the ground. His "health bar" turned yellow, and he stumbled to his feet. I stomped over to him, but just before I got into arms reach, something stopped me. I looked down to see webs covering my feet. Cameron ran around to my front and put his hands up.

"Cassie! Calm down! We can fix this!" He yelled at me.

"No you can't!" I yelled back, causing him to flinch. "I'll never be human again!" I ripped my feet free, turned around, and ran off on all fours, not caring where I went, just as long as it was far away.

LJ's P.O.V.

The whole world was spinning around me, but it straightened out in time for me to see Lizard Cassie run off into the city. I hobbled over to Cameron who helped me straighten up.

"We need to catch her before she hurts herself." He said.

"Her?" I asked. "She could get run over by a dump truck and be alright. It's the city I'm worried about." I activated my thrusters and took to the air. Suddenly, something snagged my foot and for a moment, it felt like I was pulling something. Then, Cameron landed on my back. "What the heck are you doing?" I yelled at him.

"Surfing!... I think." He replied.

"Well then, you shoot, and I fly." I activated the turbo and we shot off after Lizard Cassie.

Olena's P.O.V.

When I woke up, I was lying in the middle of a four-way intersection. I immediately noticed that I was wearing a blue, skin tight suit with lightning decals streaking down the side of it. My hair had also been put up into a ponytail, and it somehow retained the shape of a lightning bolt. Ooh, the freak that did this to me was going to pay! Then I saw an interesting scene a few blocks down. It appeared that some guy in a red and blue leotard was riding a red and yellow rocket while chasing a giant lizard. Then, they turned a corner and disappeared.

I ran in their direction, but there was a sudden explosion directly under me that sent me tumbling down the street. I looked back to see a manhole cover smoking and crackling with electricity. Had I done that? I suddenly realized what was going on. I decided to try something. I pointed two fingers down the street and flexed my arm, and a tickling sensation coursed through it before a bolt of lightning shot down the street and exploded a car at the end. I stared at my hands in awe. This power was immense! I could do anything I wanted with this power. I walked down the street and blew up a few more cars and trees. It felt great! Suddenly, it felt wrong, but only for a moment. It didn't matter though. I wasn't even Olena Macintosh anymore. I was _Electra_!


	3. Chapter 3: Rise of the Villains, Part II

**Hello all you FanFictioners! D.o.T. here again, along with chapter three and three new characters! Enjoy! (And if you're wondering why it's chapter "3" instead of "III", it's because I ran out of characters. :P )**

Keeten's P.O.V.

I woke up lying on the floor in a bar, surrounded by beer bottles. My head spun as I stood up, and I caught a glimpse of myself in the bar mirror. I looked like some sort of beefy robot, with what appeared to be six eyes in two columns of three. I was completely silver, with lines of red light zigzagging across my chest and down my arms.

Suddenly, I saw something shift in my peripheral vision, and whatever it was fell off the counter with a crash and leapt to its feet. I snapped around, and as I did so, the plates of metal on my shoulders seemed to lift up for a moment. The thing, which appeared to be human, turned in my direction.

In front of me stood a man in what appeared to be a red and black morphsuit with a sword across his back and a sort of utility belt around his waist. He appeared slightly buzzed.

"Keeten! Wha' you doin' here man?" The man slurred. I immediately recognized the voice, and the person he was supposed to be.

"David?! What the heck are you doing and why are you dressed up as _Deadpool_?" I asked, surprised. "And how did you know I was Keeten?"

"I didn't." He said, sobering up a little. "It was just the first name that came to mind. I thought you were Ultron." He was right. I did look like Ultron… or at least a version of him. A strange feeling suddenly washed over me, and I stumbled as I tried to keep my balance.

"Huh. And here I thought _I_ was the drunk one." David said as he cocked his head.

"Shut up, fool!" I growled. I stood up in confusion, thinking about what I just said. Had I ever called David a "fool" before? I pushed the thought from my mind and stood up. The strange feeling had left me just as soon as it had come, but now I could feel something in my head. A moment later, strange images flashed before my eyes.

I saw myself sitting on a celestial throne with David next to me, and the entire team of Avengers, plus Spider-man, and Wolverine charging at me from all directions. David suddenly leapt away from me and joined the others in the charge. With a sweep of my arm, they were all thrown back as if they were hit by a large wave. Then, the Lizard, a female version of Electro, and the Green Goblin all descended out of nowhere and formed a circle around me, facing outwards. However, as the heroes stood up, the Lizard hesitated before galloping over to join them. At that point, the image became hazy and faded away, and I found myself being drug out of the bar by David.

I leapt to my feet and struck him to the ground. "How dare you lay your hands on me!" I shouted. This time, it was less of a shock to me that I shouted at him. In fact, it almost felt natural.

"Dude, you were completely out of it in there, and besides, you don't get out enough." David said. "But all jokes aside, what happened in there?" I hesitated, wondering if I should tell him. After a moment, I decided I would.

"I had a vision," I said, "Of me ruling over the universe. I was opposed, but allies aided in protecting me."

"The universe? Isn't that a bit overreaching?' David asked. "And allies? Since when have you ever had friends that'll risk their lives for you?"

I huffed, turned, walked away, hoping that he wouldn't follow. Of course, being Deadpool, David was almost instantly behind me.

"Where the heck are you going? Shouldn't we at least figure out where we are? Hey! Are you even listening to me?" He rambled.

"We'll need to find the allies." I said without thinking.

"What the _heck _are you even talking about?!" David yelled, throwing his hands into the air. "Are you seriously just going to do whatever that little hallucination told you to?" I said nothing in return. "Ugh!" he groaned. "Of all the people I could've been stuck with in this stupid fanfiction and it _had _to be you."

Cassie's P.O.V.

I was aware that Cameron and LJ were chasing me, but I kept running, hoping they would give up. Eventually, Cameron forgot to let go of one of his webs, and was yanked off of LJ. LJ stopped and turned around to help him, forgetting about me. I quickly ran down a few more streets and then turned into an alley. I sat down on a dumpster which groaned under my weight.

I caught another look at myself in a piece of glass, and I could see tears streaming down my snout. How was I ever going to get back to normal? I was probably going to be stuck like this forever, and it was all because of LJ and that stupid game he sent me! I slammed my fist down on a trash can, and it crumpled like it was made of Styrofoam. I looked at my hands which were scaly with hideous claws as long as a man's thumb and as sharp as knives.

I continued to sob over my appearance when suddenly, someone in the sky let out a loud cackle. I looked up and immediately recognized the person as the Green Goblin, thanks to his signature green skin, his purple cap, gloves, boots, and vest, and his bat-shaped speeder. He made a wide arc in the sky before swooping down, jumping off his speeder, and landing in front of me. I noticed that he wasn't as thin as normal, and he appeared squinty. Plus, he spoke with a Ukrainian accent.

"Hello there, my slinky, scaled friend. I've been watching you, and it appears that you're in a touch of trouble." He said with a bow.

I cocked my head as I tried to remember where I'd heard that voice before. I studied the goblin's face for a moment, and then it hit me.

"Alex?" I asked, knowing without a doubt that it _was _Alex.

"The one and only!" He said, standing tall and proud. "But please, call me 'Gobby', 'Goblin', or 'Greeny'. Now may I ask, how do you know me?"

I hesitated, wondering what he'd do once he knew who I really was. Of course, he wasn't really himself either. Not only was his skin green, but his attitude and style of talking had changed dramatically. "I'm Cassie." I said, just above a whisper. Amazingly, he heard what I said.

"Cassandra?" Alex asked, a little surprised. "My, how you've grown."

"Shut up." I snapped, baring my teeth. "You're not much better off… Mr. Grinch." He looked a little taken back at the name, but he quickly regained his composure.

"It would seem," He said, "that we may have to work together to get out of here. So what'ya say? Shall we join forces for the greater good?" He reached out a hand to shake and looked at mine momentarily before looking me in the eyes.

'I might even be able to return you to normal." He said slyly.

'Could he?' I thought. I decided that it was a chance I was going to have to take. I slowly lifted my hand to meet his and shook it. He winced for a moment and then pulled his hand back quickly.

"You need to watch that grip of yours, Missy." He said with a glare, shaking his hand.

With that, he somersaulted backwards onto his speeder and flew out of the alley and hovered in the street, waiting for me. I stepped out of the alley, keeping my eye on Alex. This was a little too weird, since no one, _especially_ Alex, would extend their hand in partnership to a giant lizard. But, it was nice to have someone around that was trying to help me. So, I decided to stick it out.

Once he saw that I was following him, he shot off down the street making me run to keep up. As he flew, he did loops and barrel rolls in the air while laughing gleefully to himself. I wasn't sure it was the best idea to be following the Green Goblin, but at the moment, I needed all the help I could get.

David Q.'s P.O.V.

I had been following Keeten through the city for what seemed like forever, and we had gotten nowhere. While walking, I realized that I wasn't quite myself. I felt much more limber, and my mind was full of crazy images, most of which didn't make sense. To top it all off, I could hear two little voices in my head. They were really annoying, and I did my best to block them out.

Keeten was walking ahead of me, and he seemed to be completely oblivious to everything around him. I decided to use the moment to my advantage, so I pulled a small rectangular device out of my belt and chucked it at him. It hit him on the shoulder and stuck there, and a little red light in the center of the rectangle started to blink. He turned and glared at me for a moment, and I shrugged my shoulders. He scoffed before returning to his thinking. Then, a beeping noise came out of one of my pockets, and I pulled out what looked like a remote control. From the top down, it had a blinking red light, a button, and a switch. I grinned when I realized what it was.

"Hey Keeten! Do you know what this is?" I yelled at him. He turned around again, studied the object for a moment, and the replied.

"It's a detonator. Don't be stupid." He grunted. He muttered something about me and school, and kept walking.

I could feel myself grinning like an idiot. I flipped the switch and the light went steady, and then I pressed the button. Up ahead, the bomb on Keeten's shoulder exploded in a huge fireball, and Keeten was sent skidding down the street. I burst into laughter and collapsed to the ground in a fit of mirth. A minute later, Keeten came stomping my direction. He had what appeared to be a health bar above his head, and it was green, but missing some of itself.

"Sorry about that buddy, but you should really wa-Hurk!" He grabbed me by the throat and lifted me into the air by my neck. The lines of light on his body were dark red, and the plates on his shoulders were floating in the air.

"What the _meep_ did you think you... Meep?" He loosened his grip slightly, but continued to hold me in the air. "What the me-Why can't I swear?!" He shouted, shaking me. Suddenly, Mr. Ominous-Voice boomed out of nowhere. Actually, it sounded like he was in my head.

"Ah ah ah! I have a strict no-swearing policy. No 'F', no 'S', no nothing! Have fun!" And with that, he went quiet.

Keeten threw me to the ground, muttered something filled with "meeps", and stomped off. I rubbed my throat as I stood up and followed him from a safe 20 feet.

_20 Minutes Later..._

Keeten had finally cooled down enough for me to walk closer to him. We had continued our pointless walk through the city, and everything was fine and dandy!... Until a flying car wiped out Keeten.

"Keeten! Are you okay?" I yelled to him. He was pinned under the car for a moment, but he picked it up and hurled it into the side of a building. It exploded and a small, pink, heart-shaped canister fell out of the wreck. I picked it up and examined it, but finding nothing interesting about it, I stuffed it into my belt.

Down the street a girl was advancing toward us. She was wearing what appeared to be a blue leotard with lightning decals, and her hair was in a lightning-bolt ponytail. In fact, she was kinda cute… Until she sent me flying with a bolt of electricity, that is. As I sailed past him, Keeten grabbed me by the leg and hurled me back at the devil-child. I managed to unsheathe my sword, and I held it out in front of me as I flew at the girl. I watched as she created a shield of electricity, and I crashed against it and dropped to the ground. I watched again as she formed a lightning spear in her hand before thrusting it down at my face. As I felt it enter my skull, everything went black.

When I came to, I sat bolt upright and felt my face. It was perfectly fine. Then I remembered I was Deadpool, and the panic washed away. I looked over at Keeten who was talking with… Olena? _Olena_ was the she-devil?! I rubbed my eyes and looked closer. It was true. I stood up and walked over to the two.

"Well, look who's back." Olena said.

"Yeah, no thanks to you." I snapped.

"Quiet David." Keeten said. "Electra is now one of us, so I expect you to respect her."

"Respect?" I yelled, "If she wanted respect, she shouldn't have stabbed me in the brain! And what the heck do you mean by 'one of us'?" Then it dawned on me. "Wait, let me guess. She's one of the 'allies', isn't she." I sighed.

"You might not be as stupid as you look." Olena said.

"Quiet Olena." I grunted.

"It's _'Electra'_." She growled, sparks jumping from her cheeks. For a moment, an image of Pikachu flashed through my mind.

"Whatever," I said, "Let's just get this death-trip over with." I followed Keeten and Ole-Sorry, _Electra_, down the street as they chatted about their new powers. I sighed. What the meep had LJ gotten us into?


	4. Chapter IV: The Going Gets Tough

**Hello all you rotten people out there! It's been a while but the Defender of Time is back and he's brought a new chapter! I don't really have much to say, but **_**four more**_** characters are introduced in this chapter. Anyways, get to reading this thing a leave your thoughts in the reviews! So without further ado, Time/Space Productions presents: Through the Video Games: Chapter IV.**

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><p>Chapter IV: The Going Gets Tough...<p>

**LJ's P.O.V.**

Cameron and I were in an alley, sitting in a dumpster and reading Marvel comic books that we found in the bin. I was flipping through a Deadpool issue when Cameron spoke up. "Ya know, shouldn't we be looking for the others so we can all find our way out of here?" He asked. I set the comic book down and looked at him.

"That's not a bad idea, but I'm pretty content right now." I said. "I mean hey, maybe if we look around, we can find a dumpster full of tamales."

"I don't like tamales." He replied.

"Well, then it can be full of burritos."

"Burritos! Yeah!"

"Yeah!" We thrust our fists into the air, picked up as many comic books as we could carry, and climbed out of the dumpster. We walked down the street, dropping comic books and keeping our eyes peeled for food-filled dumpsters. After a bit of walking, I suddenly remembered the bar floating above my head. "Cameron," I said, "what do you suppose this is?" I pointed to the bar above my head, which was still yellow from our short skirmish with Lizard Cassie.

"I think it looks like a health bar." He said.  
>"So… Are we in a video game?"<p>

"We could be. I mean, we got sucked in through our phones."

"I came in through my computer."

"Well that's because you're different." Cameron chuckled.

"Shut up. I'm Iron Man." I said.

"But can you do this?" Cameron dropped his comic books and covered my legs in web, causing me to faceplant onto the cement. I leapt up and hopped after him as he ran down the street. After a moment of struggling, ripping, and tearing, I managed to get my legs free of the web. I activated my rockets and launched forward, tackling Cameron. We tumbled in the street and smacked into a parked car outside the alley we were just in. Suddenly a sensor on my suit beeped, indicating that other people were in the area. I stood up and looked around and helped Cameron to his feet.

"Hey, why'd you stop?" He asked.

"There are others nearby." I whispered.

"What did you say?" Cameron asked, confused. "Say that lou-_oof_!" I grabbed him and yanked him into the alley as I saw two figures round the corner down the street. "What are you doing?" Cameron yelled.

I shushed him and peeked out onto the street. The two people had seen us and were heading in our direction. Crud. I thought about what we were going to do if they turned out to be more bad guys, and then an idea popped into my head.

"Cameron, get ready for some butt-kicking."

"What are you talking-woah!" I picked him up and threw him in the dumpster before jumping in after him and shutting the lid. Fortunately, being filled with comic books, the dumpster didn't smell too bad. I listened as the two people walked into the alley and spoke to each other. They were too quiet for me to hear what they were saying, but it was obvious that they were both female. A moment later, they stopped talking and approached the dumpster. "Get ready, Cameron!" I hissed. "On my mark: 1… 2… 3… NOW!" We threw open the lid and leapt out at our potential attackers. My face was immediately met by a large hammer and I went flying back into the dumpster, flipping it over and flinging comic books everywhere. Once again, my armor prevented any real harm to me, but the health bar above my head was now red.

I watched as Cameron went flying over me and landed in another dumpster filled with what appeared to be _Grabbed by the Ghoulies_ discs. I sat up and peeked over the dumpster to see what we were up against. What met my eyes appeared to be a female Thor and a filipino Black Widow, and I recognized their faces almost immediately. "Chelsey! Esther! Hold it!" I flipped up my mask and they quickly left their fighting poses and rushed over to the two of us.

"Oh gosh, are you alright?" Chelsey asked as she helped me to my feet.

"Yeah, I am. But I think Mr. Health Bar says otherwise." I pointed to the red bar above my head. Behind me I could hear Cameron groan as Esther helped him up.

"Is this the real Spider-Man?" Esther asked.

"Nope. That's Cameron." I said as I turned around. I saw that he now had his own health bar. It was still green, but it was missing a good chunk of itself.

Esther pulled a small pink canister out from her belt and handed it to Cameron. The moment it touched him, his health bar refilled and disappeared along with the canister. "What was that?" I asked, surprised.

"We're pretty sure it's a health container." Esther replied. "We found a couple of them when Chelsey was trying out her powers. They apparently generate in the cars around this city."

"You wouldn't happen to have another would you?" I asked.

"Of course." She pulled another canister out of her belt and handed it to me. I took a closer look at it and saw that it was shaped like a heart, before it disappeared in my hand. I watched as dings and scratches on my armor disappeared, and my health bar filled back up to green, but it now looked like Cameron's had a few moments ago.

"Well then," I said, "hows 'bout we get a move on to find the others?"

"Is everyone here?" Chelsey asked me.

"I think so. Cassie is for sure, but she's the Lizard right now."

"The Lizard is a good guy, right?" Esther asked.

"_Girl_ in this case, and umm… Not this one." I replied.

"Hey guys, look!" Cameron called down to us. He had climbed up the alley wall and was pointing at something above the buildings. I activated my rockets and flew up next to him to see what he was pointing at. Esther clung to Chelsey as she levitated into the air with her hammer. Off in the distance we could see a tall, slanted build with a large "A" on the side. It was Stark Tower.

**Chelsey's P.O.V.**

From where we were, Stark Tower wasn't too far away since most of us could travel by air, and Esther flew with me. LJ randomly yelled out "Race ya!" and took off towards the tower. Cameron shot a web at LJ and snagged his foot, causing himself to get yanked along. I held my hammer out in front of me and flew after them as I carried Esther. Despite being Thor and having extra strength, it was still hard to carry her. As it turned out, we were quite a bit further away from the tower than we thought.

After a few minutes of flying, we finally reached the enormous building. LJ whipped Cameron onto the penthouse balcony before landing on a small path leading off from it. As he walked forward, a large circle rose up around him and started to pick off his armor. By the time he reached the balcony, the armor was completely removed. Fortunately, he was still wearing his regular clothes underneath

"Oh this feels great!" He said as he stretched his arms and legs. Cameron walked over to him and slapped him in the face.

"You should know better than to strip in public." He joked.

"Well, I did it anyways." LJ replied, as he jokingly slapped Cameron. They kept slapping each other and a sissy fight quickly ensued. I threw my hammer in between them to try and break them up, but I misjudged on my aim and the hammer smacked into Cameron. He went flying into the penthouse through an open door and crashed into mirror, shattering it. "As if your luck wasn't bad enough already." LJ guffawed as we walked inside.

"I wouldn't talk about luck, I mean you're the one who got maimed by Cassie." Cameron called back.

"What does that have to do with luck?" LJ.

"Nothing, but you got beat up by a lizard."

"A _giant _lizard!"

"Doesn't matter."

"Yes it does!"

"Nope."

"Gah!"

They resumed their sissy fighting, and I rolled my eyes in disgust.

"Um, shouldn't we be looking for the others so we can all find our way out of here?" Esther spoke up. The boys looked at Esther for a moment before bursting into laughter.

"How is that funny?" She huffed.

"Talk about deja-vu!" Cameron guffawed.

I slammed my hammer on the ground, creating a shockwave and causing everyone else to jump. "LJ! Cameron! Please listen." I snapped. "Go on Esther."

"Well, I'm just saying that it would be smart to see if we could find the others." She said. LJ folded his hands behind his back and walked up to Esther with a sarcastic, yet dignified, look on his face and leaned towards her.

"And how do you suppose we do that, hm?" He asked, raising both eyebrows as far as they could go.

"I don't know… We could split up I guess." Esther replied, leaning away from him.

"Hm, that's a pretty good idea. Got any other great ways of making it easy for a psychopathic lizard girl to kill us off?" LJ said, adding a sarcastic drawl to his voice.

"I don't see you trying to come up with anything." Esther snapped.

"Well maybe because I don't want to die!"

"What are you afraid of? It's just Cassie."

"_Psyco Lizard_ Cassie!"

I decided to break up the argument before a fight broke out. I stepped between them and pushed them apart. "Okay, listen. LJ, I know you're afraid of Cassie now that she's a lizard, but didn't you suggest that we search for the others just a few minutes ago?"

"Well, yeah, but that was before we found this place." LJ sputtered, trying to recover.

"And how does this building make our situation any different?" I asked him.

"It's _safe_." He crossed his arms and gave me a smug smile. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Cameron look around as if he heard something, and then make his way out to the balcony. I paid him no mind, however.

"Look, I want to get out of this mess, and I also want everyone else to..." I said, my temper growing.

"Uh, hey guys?" Cameron called to us from the balcony.

"Not now Cameron!" I snapped, glaring at him. I turned back to LJ. "So if you want to run off on your own to who-knows-where, be my-"

Cameron interrupted again. "Uh, I really think you-"

"Cameron! Please!" I snapped at him again before turning back to LJ one more time. "So if you want to leave, then go!" Behind me there was a "_BOOM!_" and I whirled around just in time to see Cameron hurtling at me.

**Cameron's P.O.V.**

I was watching Lizard Cassie climb up the side of Stark Tower when a bomb hit me and literally blew up in my face, sending me flying backwards into the penthouse and into Chelsey. I crashed into her and then smashed her against a wall, and I could feel her go limp behind me. The health bar above her head had drained into yellow only slightly, while mine was half empty. As I stumbled to my feet, another bomb blew out the all the balcony windows and the Green Goblin swooped in on his glider, cackling.

"Well well well, it looks like we interrupted their little party, wouldn't you say Lizzie?" As he said this, Lizard Cassie hoisted herself onto the balcony and stomped into the penthouse.

"I told you, don't call me that." She growled, before turning to the rest of us. "Where's LJ? I owe him something." I looked around, and it appeared he had disappeared. I then noticed him cowering behind a drink bar while silently praying. Esther stepped forward to confront Lizard Cassie and the Goblin, the latter looking suspiciously familiar.

"Cassie, listen. I know you're angry because you're a lizard, but we have to work together to get out of here!" She said.

"I just want my old body back, and Goblin said that he'd be able to get it for me." Cassie snapped.

"Um, you do realize that the only thing the Green Goblin can really do is throw bombs and make lame jokes, right?" LJ said. He had poked his head above the bar, and it was obvious that he was shivering.

Cassie seemed to hesitate for a moment as she slowly realized the situation. "What did you say?" She growled.

"I, uhh, the Green Goblin cannot fix you." He said, retreating back behind the bar.

"_WHAT_?!" Cassie roared. She grabbed the goblin off his glider and held him in front of her snout. "You had better pray that he's not telling the truth." She hissed.

The Goblin looked like he was about to pass out from fear. "Well I can't actually heal you myself, but if we searched around I bet we could find someone that could retur-_URK_!" He was interrupted by Cassie nearly squeezing the life out of him.

"YOU LIED TO ME!" She roared. Esther and I stepped back as she hurled the Green Goblin out of the penthouse and into the air. His glider swooped out of the room and caught him mid-fall. He turned back to us and shook his fist in the air as he yelled.

"You'll rue the day you turned on the Gree-" There was a sudden "_Bang!_" and his glider caught fire and dropped, with him screaming as he plummeted. I turned to see Esther blowing out the barrel of a semi-automatic pistol.

"That was actually a lot of fun." She said, grinning. Suddenly, Cassie let out a roar and charged at LJ's hiding place. "This is all your fault LJ!" She screeched. LJ squeaked and dove away from the bar just before Cassie smashed into it. LJ jumped up and sprinted over to me and ducked behind me.

"Cameron! Do something!" He threw a beer bottle he was holding at Cassie, but it only shattered harmlessly on her snout, fueling her rage. She charged at us, but some sudden gunfire from Esther distracted her for a moment. Unfortunately, the bullets just bounced off her reptilian skin. I took this moment of distraction to cover her lower body with web, but she tore it off like it was paper. LJ had moved over to Chelsey and was trying to wake her up by shaking her. Cassie stomped over to LJ and grabbed him by the throat and lifted him flailing into the air. She squeezed his neck and his health bar started to drain.

"Jarvis." He gasped. "The sp-_gack!_-The spare!" From the back wall of the room, a new Iron Man suit launched towards Cassie and slammed into her face, knocked her over and causing her to drop LJ. "I can_not _believe that worked!" He said, gasping for breath. As he tried to stand up, the suit started to build itself around LJ, immobilizing him.

Out of nowhere, a hammer slammed into Cassie and knocked her out to the balcony. I turned to see Chelsey back on her feet.

"That's for knocking me out." She said.

LJ raised a finger into the air. "Actually it was the Gre-mhp!" He was interrupted by the suit forming the mask around his face. Chelsey's hammer returned to her, and she launched forward and into Cassie, knocking the Lizard girl off the balcony. We all ran to the edge and looked over to see Cassie crash into the ground, creating a small crater in the pavement.

"Do you think she'll be alright?" Esther asked.

"No duh. Look." LJ pointed down at Lizard Cassie, who had gotten up again and was running off towards the harbor.

"We've got to stop her before she get's into more trouble." Chelsey said. "Still think this building is safe?" She asked LJ as she flew off the balcony and after Cassie. LJ grunted and leapt off after Chelsey, and I was about to leap when Esther grabbed my arm.

"Wait, how am I going to get down there?" She asked, worried.

"Just stay here." I said. "Your guns don't do anything to Cassie anyways." I leapt off the balcony, snagged a web on who-knows-what in the sky, and swung after Cassie, Chelsey, and LJ.

**Esther's P.O.V.**

I watched as my friends left me and chased after Cassie until they disappeared behind the buildings. I sighed and walked back into the penthouse where I found a can of Coca-Cola on the floor. I picked it up, popped the tab, and took a sip of the beverage. Today was going to be a long day.

**Cassie's P.O.V.**

After Chelsey knocked me off of Stark Tower, I decided to run again since there was probably no one else who could help me return to my normal self. I kept running until I reached the city harbor, and sat on the end of one of the piers. I whirled around when something crashed into the ground behind me, and I saw LJ lying in a heap on the cement.

"I'll be okay." He whimpered. "Just let me work my pelvis back into place." Cameron and Chelsey landed behind him and took fighting stances as I stood up.

Suddenly, somebody yelled "_Bonzai!_" and Wolverine leaped over the group in front of me. He ran up and crashed into me, knocking me into the water. Fortunately, the water was somewhat shallow, but I noticed an iceberg, about the size of a small semi-trailer, floating just a few feet in front of me. I looked back at Wolverine whom had taken off his mask, revealing himself to unmistakably be David Filipino. He turned to the others and bowed jokingly. That was it for me. With a loud roar, I grabbed the iceberg and hoisted it above my head, leapt into the air, and smashed it down on David. The iceberg shattered and David's health bar went from full to empty in a blink of an eye. He exploded in a flurry of blue pixels and disappeared. LJ, Cameron, and Chelsey were stunned by the sudden turn of events, so I took the moment to leap over them and run off down the streets once again.

**Chelsey's P.O.V.**

Cameron, LJ, and I watched stunned as Cassie utterly destroyed David F. in front of our eyes. She bounded off over us, but we were too shocked to move. From the iceberg rubble emerged a somewhat chubby Captain America, who we instantly recognized as Carson Carnale. And just when I thought this day couldn't get any more messed up.


	5. Chapter V: Age of Ultron, More or Less

**Hello once again peoples! It's been WAY too long since my last update, but I am back now with a the latest c****hapter! The Marvel adventure is almost over, and the next segment will be… Well, you'll find out.**

**I _can_ tell you, though, that it will be a video game that EVERYONE knows about. That clears things up, right? Anyways, one more chapter till a change of scenery! :D WHO'S READY FOR EXCITEMENT?!... And one death...**

**Whistlin' Chicken Productions presents…**

**Chapter V: Age of Ultron**

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><p><strong>Esther's P.O.V.<strong>

When Chelsey, Cameron, and LJ returned from chasing Cassie, they all looked like they had just seen a ghost. As it turned out, that wasn't too far off.

"Hey, what happened?" I asked as they landed on the balcony and walked inside.

"Cassahmudeddivad…" LJ mumbled incoherently as he slumped into a nearly intact chair.

"Um, can you repeat that?" I asked again.

"You remember David Filipino?" Cameron asked me.

"Of course. Why? Did you find him?"

"He… kinda died."

I took a step back and inhaled sharply. "D-Died?" I asked, hoping that Cameron was joking as usual. I knew the answer from the look on Cameron's face. "What happened?"

"We had Lizard Cassie cornered and he showed up dressed as Wolverine." LJ said from his slumped position. "He knocked her into the water and she brought an iceberg down on him."

"...An iceberg?" I asked.

"A heavy one, too." LJ replied.

"What was an iceberg doing in the middle of a harbor?" I asked, confused. As if on cue, the elevator at the back of the penthouse let out a _Ding!_ and the doors opened to let Carson Carnale, dressed as Captain America, into the room. "Why'd you guys leave me down there?!" Was the first thing he said.

"What?!" Chelsey exclaimed. "LJ, I told you to fly him up." She said, turning to the armor-clad teen.

"I didn't want to, after what he called me." LJ replied, performing the "shame-on-you" gesture with his fingers.

"I called you that because _you _called me _fat_!" Carson snapped at him.

"I called you it because you are. _Especially _when I have to carry you fifty-somethin' floors…"

"Don't be insensitive, LJ!" I scolded him.

"Especially when _you're _the one that's wearing the extra 150 pounds, and can _still _lift a truck." Carson added.

"Well, you can suck it." LJ replied, crossing his arms

"Ya know what? See that rod?" Carson said, pointing to a metal rod sticking out from the floor where the Goblin's bomb blew the windows off. "You can take it and shove it-" Their argument was interrupted by Chelsey slamming her hammer into the floor again. The shock wave emitted by the hammer knocked LJ and Carson off their feet.

"LJ, I don't know what your problem is, but you have got to stop this!" The blonde said.

"My problem?" LJ repeated as he stood up. "_My problem?_ My problem is that I've mutated one of our friends into a raging psychopath!" He threw his hands up into the air and stomped towards Chelsey. "My problem is that I've almost died twice! My problem is that I've gotten us trapped in this place,_ and I can't do a friggin' thing about it!_" He yelled. He then stepped on something and flipped backwards as it rolled out from under him. The object skittered across the floor and bumped against my feet. I reached down and picked up the small test tube that had caused LJ's fall.

"What's this?" I asked, thinking aloud. The test tube was filled with an odd, red liquid that seemed to bubble. Cameron and LJ were staring at it as if they had just relived a bad dream.

"Where did that come from?" Cameron asked.

"I don't know," I replied, "it was just on the floor."

"Is that what I think it is?" LJ asked Cameron.

"I think so!" Cameron said.

"But _what is it_?" Chelsey asked.

"You know how Cassie's a lizard now? Of course you do." LJ said, not waiting for a response. "She got to be that way because of a liquid just like this one, but I'll bet you money that this fell out of her lab coat and it's the thing that'll change her back."

"Well then what are we standing around for?" Carson said. "Let's go change her ba-" He was interrupted by the elevator _Ding!_ing, and all eyes turned to the steel doors. The doors slid open once again, and Mark Banderthrow and Justin Darnpac stepped out. Unlike all the rest of us, the only difference about their appearances was that Mark had a bow and a quiver of arrows strapped to his back.

"Uh, hey guys…" Mark said after a moment of silence.

"Where have you guys been?" Carson asked.

"I recognized this building and we started making our way here." Mark replied.

"Are you Hawkeye?" I asked Mark.

"I don't know, I guess you could say that." Mark asked.

"Who's Justin?" I asked. Everyone looked at the Filipino, but the senior just shrugged.

"We don't know." Mark replied bluntly.

LJ walked around Justin in a circle, looking him up and down. "You don't look any different… Do you _feel _different at all?" He asked. Justin just shrugged in response again.

"Then who could you be…" LJ said, thinking aloud.

"Maybe he doesn't have a power." I suggested.

"No way. He _has _to have one." LJ replied adamantly.

"Hey, I hate to interrupt your welcoming party," Chelsey interjected, "but we need to get moving. Who knows where Cassie is right now, and she's probably getting further away while you mull over who or what Justin is!"

"Fine then." LJ huffed, crossing his arms. "What do we do?"

"We're going to have to split up." Chelsey said. At this, LJ ground his lip in dissension, but didn't say anything. "We know Cassie ran north and since you, Cameron, and I are the only ones that can fly, we'll each have to carry someone."

"But that leaves one left over." Carson pointed out.

"I can stay." Justin spoke up. "I don't have a power and I don't want to slow you down."

"Okay then," Chelsey continued. "I'll take Esther and go north, Cameron will take Mark and go northeast, and LJ will take Carson and go northwest." Hearing this, LJ facepalmed in disgust and Carson chuckled triumphantly. "If anybody finds her, come back here and… make a loud noise or something. I _know _we can all do that." LJ muttered something under his breath before walking over to me and taking the test tube from me.

"I'm the fastest, so I'll probably find her first." With that, he grabbed Carson under the armpits and launched himself and the pseudo-Captain America out of the building and off in the direction Cameron and Mark were supposed to go. Not one to get shown up by LJ, Cameron grabbed Mark around his torso and hauled him yelling in fear over the side of the building.

Chelsey sighed and wrapped her arm around my waist as she raised her hammer into the air, which lifted us off the ground. It was a little uncomfortable hanging off of Chelsey like that, but it was better than whatever Mark was going through…

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><p><strong>ATTENTION READERS!: From this point forward, I will be writing the story in 3<strong>**rd****-person view. It has become a challenge to write in first person with 13 different characters, and it honestly limits the potential of the story. So anyways, back to said story!**

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><p><strong>General P.O.V.<strong>

Keeten, David Q., and Electra stood atop a building slightly Southeast of Stark Tower. Keeten was watching the iconic building intently while David and Electra bickered over what was better: swords or lightning?

"Listen up Electra," David growled, "Swords have been better since the beginning of time! Lightning is overrated and if you're who I think you are, you'll get your butt kicked if Spiderman shows up."

"Have you ever been struck by lightning before?" Electra asked.

"What? No, and what does that have to do with anything?!" David replied, beginning to become annoyed.

"If you had been struck, you'd be _dead_!" Electra pointed out. "People recover from swords, but hardly ever from lightning strikes."

David ground his teeth together, his anger rising. "That doesn't mean-"

"Would you two SHUT UP!?" Keeten yelled, silencing David. "You've been arguing like this for thirty minutes, and if you don't stop right now, I'm going to throw you both OFF THIS BUILDING!" Seeing that the two finally stopped arguing, Keeten turned back around and began staring at the tower again.

"I can use my lightning to fly." Electra muttered to David with a triumphant smirk. David opened his mouth to respond, but Keeten's turning around once again made him shut it.

"Now listen here you two," He began, "We're going to take that tower for ourselves."

"What?!" David said, alarmed. "Dude, we can't just waltz in there and take it over. It's meeping _Stark Tower_!"

"It _is_ empty though." Electra stated.

"What are you talking about? The Avengers are in there." David said.

"You obviously haven't been paying attention." Electra huffed. "They all just _flew out_." Unbelieving, David pulled a set of binoculars from his belt and looked in through the balcony with them.

"Well, they're not all gone. There's one left." He said.

"Who?" Keeten asked.

"It's… Holy meep, it's Justin!" David exclaimed.

"Justin?" Keeten repeated. "Justin Darnpac?!"

"Yeah! Ya think he'll join us too?"

"…What Avenger is he?"

David peered through the binoculars again. "I think he's… just Justin."

"He's normal?"

"Yeah."

Keeten rubbed his metallic chin for a moment, and then stared at Stark tower once again. Electra groaned and stomped up to the cyborg. "Listen, if we don't do something soon, then I'm bailing. I wanted to have some fun, but all we've done so far is stare at a stupid building."

"How would you like to fight a giant lizard in a lab coat?" David asked Electra.

"Would I like- What the heck are you talking about?" Electra deadpanned.

David simply pointed down at the street below them, which the Lizard was running down.

"_He finally arrives."_ Keeten thought. "I want you to go down there and talk to him." Keeten said to David and Electra.

"About what? The weather?" David joked. "Look, I really don't want to rumble with a monster right now, so if you don't mind I'm going to stay-_Urk!_" He was interrupted by Keeten grabbing him by the collar of his suit and hurling him over the side of the building. Electra blinked in surprise by this action, but followed the mock-Deadpool over the side, using her own electricity for lift.

"I guess he did mind…" She commented as she flew down after David.

Down on the street, Cassie had begun to slow down her pace. While once again upset over her seemingly unchangeable appearance, she was impressed by her newfound strength and stamina…Something she decided she'd put to good use the next time she found LJ.

Suddenly, from out of nowhere, David dropped out of the sky and landed directly on Cassie's back. Unfortunately for David, Cassie didn't recognize him in the Deadpool suit. The moment she realized he was there, she bucked hard and set the mercenary-wannabe into the side of a building with a sickening _Crunch!_. His healthbar drained quite a bit but, since he was Deadpool, it quickly started to refill.

Electra swooped down from above, holding back her laughter in order maintain focus on the hulking beast before her. She touched down and raised her arm to release a bolt of lightning at Cassie. However, the electricity deflected off of Cassie's skin and electrocuted David as he was standing up.

"Hey, same team! Same team!" He yelled as he was thrown backwards from the bolt.

"Sorr-eee!" Electra apologized, laying the sarcasm on thick. She took a defensive stance as Cassie rose to full height and slowly turned around. But, the moment she saw Electra, she froze.

"O-Olena?" She stammered, not really sure if this was some sort of trick.

"…How do you know my name?" The Electric-girl asked.

"I-It's me! Cassie!" he Lizard girl replied. Electra was doubting that this was actually Cassie, given her current form.

"What's your full name?" She asked after a moment of thought.

Cassie sighed, wishing she didn't have to say it. "It's Cassandra Sapphire McMartyr."

"Oh my gosh…" Electra said with a gasp. "It is you!.. What happened?"

"LJ did this to me." Cassie explained. "He made me drink some sort potion and now I'm this ugly thing."

"LJ? Really? I guess you two will never work out." Electra said with a chuckle.

Cassie glared at her. "That's not funny, and he's a j-" She was interrupted by David running at her with a yell. As he ran, he pulled out his katanas and swung them at Cassie, but Electra stopped him cold with another bolt of lightning.

"Why the _meep_ do you keep doing that?!" He yelled at her.

"Because," Electra replied, "this is Cassie. Cassie, you already know David."

David stared a Cassie for a moment before speaking. "On any other day I wouldn't believe you, but right now this isn't so hard to…"

"If _you're_ who I think you are, I wouldn't have a hard time believing it _any_ day." Cassie said with a smirk. David sulked for a moment at the comment and then walked right up to the Lizard girl and looked her down the snout.

"Okay, listen up _Lizard_," David said with a sneer, "if we're going to get along, you'd better get one thing straight: I'm the one in charge here."

"Care to repeat that David?" As if on cue, Keeten appeared behind the group and approached David.

"Yeah I'll repeat it, I said _I'm in charge_." David said, his temper growing again. "I don't know where you got the idea that _you_ were ever in charge."

"You seemed to be following me." Keeten replied calmly.

"Just to see what you'd do." David explained. "You've obviously gone insane since you turned into this… this… Ultron-mockup that you are, so I'm taking over!"

Keeping his calm demeanor, Keeten took a step forward towards David, and hit him with a punch so hard that he went flying back into Cassie and knocked _her_ over. David staggered to his feet and looked at the indent Keeten had left in his chest. The fist-shaped dip was slowly healing already, but it still hurt.

To Keeten's left Electra fired a bolt at him, but the metal maniac _caught_ it in his hand and redirected it at David, who meeped repeatedly when it hit him. Cassie tossed David off of herself and swung her reptilian fist down on top of Keeten with a hiss, but the robotic teen caught that too and used the Lizard girl's momentum to hurl her over himself and down the street.

Electra raised both her arms and began to charge a large ball of lightning, but stopped when Keeten turned and gave her an ice cold glare. She found herself frozen to the ground in fear of the robotic monster standing before her.

"Ugh. You're not Keeten." David said as he stood up.

"No," Keeten said "Keeten was a weakling. I. Am. ULTRON!" Ultron leaned back and let out a cackle. Either it really wasn't Keeten standing before the teens, or he had indeed gone insane with his power. "Now, either you follow me," He said to the people around him, "or you will all _perish_!"

Electra continued to stand frozen and David was too dazed to do anything, but Cassie charged Ultron again with a roar. She pounced on him, but he knocked her off with a single punch. She went flying through a display case of a shopping mall but got back up and lunged at Ultron, intending to crush him in her powerful jaw. She latched down on his arm and shook him like a dog with its chew toy, but Ultron wasn't done yet. With blood-red energy crackling at his fingertips, he used his free arm to grab Cassie by the neck and electrocute her, causing her healthbar to appear for the first time since she became the Lizard. The bar began to quickly drain. After a moment of this 'shocking' comeback, he let go and Cassie dropped limp to the ground.

"This is what you get for attacking Ultron!" He said as his picked up one of David's swords off the ground. He raised the sword above his head and was about to bring it down on Cassie's neck when the sound of a sonic boom turned his attention to something down the street.

A moment later he was wiped out by a blur of gold and crimson, and he and the object went tumbling down the street in a shower of sparks. When they stopped, the object kicked Ultron away and stood up.

"Iron Man?" Electra questioned when she saw who had tackled Ultron.

"Yes, and no." LJ said as he removed his mask.

"_L-LJ?!_" Electra stammered when she saw the teen.

"The one and only!" The armored teen replied. He then remembered Cassie and ran over to the almost-unconscious girl. "Cassie! C'mon Cassie, you've gotta get up. I brought this!" He pulled out the test tube of red liquid and held it in front of her snout.

"You really think I'm going to drink _that_?" She groaned." You're as insane as Keeten."

"No, seriously! This will change you back!" LJ said, almost excitedly.

"…Are you sure?" Cassie asked, this time with the littlest bit of hope in her reptilian eyes.

"Yeah!... Well, 75.3 percent, anyways." He said with a reassuring smile. Cassie slowly sat up and took the test tube from LJ. She was about to drink it, when Ultron seemed to materialize behind LJ. He grabbed the armor cladded teen by the shoulder and violently slammed him into the asphalt on the street, causing his health bar to drain into yellow.

"HOW DARE YOU ATTACK ME!" The robotic monster shouted angrily. He picked up LJ and started punching him repeatedly, before ramming his electrical hand into the boy's chest. LJ's healthbar dropped into the red zone and started flashing.

Ultron started ripping the teen's armor off in order to do more damage when Cassie grabbed the psycho by the neck. "You stop hurting him NOW!" She roared, right before she used all her strength to hurl him over the buildings around them and out of sight.

LJ's healthbar was now empty and he had begun to pixelate at his legs, and the strange virus was slowly making its way upwards. Cassie immediately recognized it from when she killed David F., and stood still, unsure of what to do.

Electra ran up and stopped when she saw LJ literally coming apart. "What's happening to LJ?" She asked.

"Let's just say that I won't need rockets to fly where I'm going." LJ moaned. When Electra heard this she went pale and couldn't seem to talk. Cassie looked like she was about to burst into tears. LJ snapped his fingers to get her attention, and then pointed to the test tube a few feet away. "Listen, drink that and go find the others. _Get out of here_."

"No! I can't leave you to just die!" She cried.

"Hey, I'm freakin' out on the inside here, but we can't do anything about this now. All that's important right now is that you and the others get out of this stupid place." LJ said. "I'm really sorry I got you into this." As the pixels reached his chest he gave Cassie a thumbs up, and then he dissipated into the air.

Cassie slumped to the ground in tears, and Electra and David walked up behind her. Electra rubbed her comfortingly on the back, and David picked up the test tube and handed it to the Lizard girl. She looked at the tube before surprisingly handing it back to David.

"You don't want it?" David asked as he took his torn mask off.

"Not until Ultron gets what's coming to him." Cassie growled. "LJ saved my life and while I didn't save his, I'm going to do the next best thing." She stood up just as Carson came running around the corner. The patriotic-poser immediately recognized Olena and David, and knew that the Lizard was Cassie from earlier.

"Guys! Did LJ find you? He ditched me way back there." Carson said.

"Um… Keeten killed LJ." David said grimly. Hearing this made Carson step back in shock.

"You're kidding… I know Keeten hated him, but… Seriously?" Carson said.

"He's not Keeten anymore." David explained. "He turned into Ultron when we entered this place, and he slowly went insane. We _have_ to stop him." Carson was stunned beyond words by his brother's change.

"Keeten… Oh my gosh…" Carson whimpered.

"…We need to find the others." Electra said, breaking the silence. "Ultron said that he was going to take over Stark Tower."

"Then that's where we'll go." Cassie said, stomping off in the direction of the building. Everyone else simply followed, not wishing to anger her any further.

Back in Stark Tower Justin sat idly on a couch, patiently waiting the return of his friends, when the elevator suddenly exploded open. Justin jumped up and whipped around to see what happened when Ultron stepped out.

"If you wish to live, you will stay out of my way." Ultron said in a dark tone. Justin nodded in fear and returned to sitting on the couch. "Those idiots." Ultron mumbled. "They'll wish they had just stayed away as well…"


End file.
